Month: June 2023

Of AI….& Tik-Tok Reading Our Fucking Minds?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

It hasn’t happened that much recently, but Tik-Tok continues to seem to have a very…eerie…ability to pin down exact elements of my internal monologue. It’s all very curious. I’ve kind of learned to shut up about it, though, because mentioning my fears on this subject causes people to look at me funny.

But Tik-Tok continues to figure me out on such a specific manner — seemingly in real time — that there are two solutions to the issue. One, Tik-Tok has really good AI to the point that it can figure what’s going on in my mind simply from analyzing my usage…or it can fucking read not just my mind, but everyone’s mind!

I don’t think Tik-Tok is reading my mind, but I do think that however it’s figuring out what’s going on in my mind should be regulated — hopefully out of existence. What is the spookiest about what Tik-Tok does is the near-real time nature of it.

If what was going on was a general figuring out of me as a person, it wouldn’t be such a big deal. What is alarming is I think about something really hard and….then with 24 hours I get pushed some obscure thing on Tik-Tok that makes very clear reference to what I was thinking about.

Very strange. Very odd.

But absolutely no one listens to me. And if they did listen to me, they would think I had lost my mind. So, no. Like I said, I don’t think Tik-Tok can read my mind….but something…..strange…is going on.

What, though?

Is Madison Beer….Real?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I’m not being serious, obviously, but I sometimes wonder if Madison Beer is a a Simone kind of AI-generated personality. I’ve never heard her voice, even though she’s a “singer.” She’s got a perfect smile and a great body. So, while, yes, she’s obviously, real, we’re careening towards point where you could actually pull off a Simone-type AI generated celebrity, parasocial relationships and all, pretty easily.

I say this because it’s going to happen soon enough, one way or another. Once we figure out if America is going to have a revolution / civil war or turn into an autocracy, the thing thing we’re going to address is all the amazing cultural changes that are going to happen because of AI.

We may have to bomb ourselves into oblivion to get the “cool stuff” of AI, though.

Anyway. I think all human-generated art is probably going to fade away. It’s just a matter of how long it takes. It may be 10 or 20 years, but, in the end, Hollywood as we know it — actors and all — will be more industry built on software than celluloid.

AI is going to sucker punch Hollywood actors, directors and actors in a pretty astonishing way, leaving producers sitting pretty. Will a Simone of the future be able to win an Oscar? That’s a question we’re going to have to ask ourselves as a species, I’m afraid.

‘Something Bad’ This Way Comes

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t know what it will be, but it definitely seems as though Something Bad is careening towards the United States in late 2024, early 2025. We’re in for something of a Perfect Storm with a political Fourth Turning happening at the same time as a Petite Singularity.

But what that “Bad Thing” is, I just don’t know. And, all things considered, I’d prefer that “Bad Thing” be America peacefully shifting into a MAGA-themed autocracy than the alternative which is — gulp — something a bit more violent. Or, put another way, America is far more politically unstable at the moment than you might think the globe’s first hyperpower should be.

And, remember I still think that, in the end, it will be Blues, not Reds, who face the real choice about how bad things are going to get. And Blues just don’t have the same hot-head temperament as Reds. America generally is a center-Right nation with center-Left ideals and, lulz, there have only been a few times in our history when that most elusive of political creatures, the “Radical Moderate” have popped up.

If America had a center-Left Second Revolution, it would only be because Radical Moderates popped up because the average, common man with a mortgage was mad as hell and not going to take it anymore. Reds are politically ascendant and so they really have no reason to get violent, unless they magically somehow AGAIN don’t win the presidential election.

All signs point to 2024 – 2025 being extremely, extremely EXTREMELY unstable both because of The Fourth Turning and The Petite Singularity.

But I’m always wrong. So I suppose it’s possible we’ll somehow magically punt these structural problems down the road another four years.

If ‘No Hard Feelings’ Does Gangbusters — It Could Mean The End Of The Superhero Movie Era (Until A.I. Burns Hollywood To The Ground)

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Jennifer Lawrence’s new vehicle, “No Hard Feelings” is tracking really well. And if it’s a huge hit, then it could be a ping from a post-Superhero Era movie era. It could be, in short, a vibe shift.

More likely, of course, it will just be a vibe shift until…AI generated movies make the very idea of humans creating movies quaint. But I will be quite pleased if we see 80-style raunchy comedies shurge to the forefront of pop culture between now and when the Fourth Turning causes combined with the Petite Singularity throws everything up in the air so much, we may be longing for Aliens to save us from ourselves.

We’re fucked, but, YOLO.

It’s rather annoying how prudish GenZ is. I don’t know what is wrong with them. Have young people stopped wanting to see T&A on the big screen? They have all the porn they could possibly want on the Internet and yet they want to make it so you can see an attractive woman’s ta-tas on a huge movie screen. UGH.

The End Of (Human Generated) Art?

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

As we all wake up from the Superhero movie era daze we’ve been in for 20 years, I think maybe we aren’t asking the right question. The question isn’t, “What type of movie genre will replace Superhero movies?” but, rather, “Is this the twilight of not just mass media, but human generated art?”

It’s very possible that a lot sooner than you might think, AI sensors on your TV and phone hooked up to “Her”-like technology will generate movies, TV shows, songs and — gulp — novels, that are designed specifically for what you want at that specific moment because of your mood.

Some 99% of what is generated by the hand of man when it comes to art is shit and, as such, 99% of all art could very well be, well, AI generated shit. AND, there won’t be any mass media anymore, no shared reality.

As such, the Singularity won’t come with us uploading our minds into computers, but with the very idea of human-generated art for profit being seen as a quaint notion of a bygone era. And that dystopian nightmare is probably going to happen a lot — A LOT — sooner than you think.

If it happens at all, that is.

And add the general tendency to name, shame and drug anyone who is “different” and, lulz, our posthuman future may already be here.

The Curious Case of Cate Blanchett

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

If you want a prime example of how different The Elites conceive of the notion of sexuality relative us Poors, look no further than Cate Blanchett. The woman has never met a lesbian character to play that she didn’t like. I think it’s safe to say she’s giving the audience a sense of what’s going on in private life.

Yes, she’s married to a dude, but I think they probably have an “understanding.” And if they don’t then whatever urges Blanchett may have to wade into the lady pond, she uses her Art as and outlet to do so.

As such, it’s comical how all the Swifties want Tay-Tay to be a ‘mo. She probably is “queer” but she’s not…gay. She, and every other powerful female celebrity just has a very vague, flexible concept of who they do what with with their bodies.

So, no, Tay-Tay isn’t probably going to start dating a woman in public because she’s America’s Heteronormative Sweetheart, but in her private life, I think she’s probably done her fair share of same-sex bed hoping.

Anyway. Lulz, nothing matters.

Making The Case For A Netflix — WBD Merger

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

Now that we learn that Warner Brothers Discovery is thinking of licensing HBO content to Netflix, why don’t the two companies just merge? It would make a lot of sense. It would be a massive media powerhouse that could go toe-to-toe with The House of Mouse.

What’s more, then Paramount Global could merge with NBCUniversal (or something) and then all of America’s media would be owned by The Big Three (Except for Columbia studios, owned by Sony.)

I just don’t know enough about the companies involved, but just a back of the envelope thought experiment about a Netflix – WBD merger seems to make a shit ton of sense.

But, then, I’m always wrong.

Some Thoughts As I Approach The Beginning of The Public Beta Reader Process

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

  1. Write drunk, edit sober.
  2. I’m going to be at a loss once I hand this novel over to Beta Readers
  3. I need to keep momentum going — I have to think up a new novel (or two) to write while I wait for Beta Readers to finish the novel.
  4. While Stieg Larsson’s novels are more provocative than my novel, I think my novel is intriguing enough that people will want to read it.
  5. I have to accept that it’s very possible that I won’t publish this novel, but maybe some other subsequent novel that I write using the skillset I’ve developed working on this one.
  6. I need to read more.
  7. I need to watch more movies / TV shows.
  8. I have no idea what is going to happen next, once the Beta Reader process begins.

RFK Jr. Is Such A Fucking Kook

by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner

I don’t know what to make of Robert Kennedy Jr. He is such a fucking kook and yet the All-In podcast Tech Bros love him. It’s all very sick, sad world in nature. What bothers me the most is Biden is so fucking old that Something Bad might happen between now and 2024 and, well, everything would be thrown up in the air.

All we can do is hope, I guess. Hope that my “hysterical doom shit” that I always do is just that and we actually have nothing to worry about.